Hundreds of people angered by the repeal of a law allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for driver's licenses took to the streets of cities around the state Friday to kick off a daylong boycott.

The protest came in response to the Legislature's action last week and as part of an effort to highlight the economic contribution of California's Hispanic community, the nation's largest. The protest was planned to coincide with the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

About 400 people marched into East Los Angeles waving signs that said, in Spanish, "Yes, we can" and "We want licenses now."

Pablo Lopez, 44, of Santa Ana, marched with about 70 others from an Orange County landscaping company that had released its employees for the boycott. Lopez said he was an undocumented immigrant for 12 years and drove without a license, but was always afraid of getting stopped by police and deported.

"People come to this country for opportunity. That's what we're fighting for," said Lopez. "We come here to work hard and we have family that we have to protect. If we don't have a license, we won't be able to do that."

Others said they felt betrayed by California lawmakers, who at first had worked alongside Hispanic groups for the bill.

"For the longest time they promised it would become the law and all of a sudden they changed their mind," Felipe Aguirre, with Comite Pro Uno, said as he marched down the sidewalk. "We think it's important that people protest this kind of treatment of immigrants."

At 11.9 million, Hispanics make up about a third of the state's population. California has been the scene of a series of divisive battles over immigration.

Although only a few hundred people took part in the rallies, supporters said the biggest effect would be people who simply stayed home and avoided shopping and public transportation.

Planned events included a march of school children, a rally and walkout at a local high school and a protest outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, as well as scattered rallies in Los Angeles, San Jose and San Francisco.

Another target of the boycott was Clear Channel, which owns 1,200 radio stations nationwide. Hispanics nationwide are angry at the company because of a Los Angeles-based talk show which they say frequently attacks immigrant rights.

Clear Channel did not immediately return phone calls Friday.

At least one school district attempted to pre-empt a student walkout.

In Santa Ana, school officials offered to raffle a color TV for those who attended school and the district sent home a note to parents urging them to send their children to school.

The Santa Ana School District hadn't finished its attendance count by midmorning Friday, a district spokesman said.

In downtown San Jose, more than 150 people marched from Guadalupe Church to the city's Plaza de Cesar Chavez, where they met other protesters who began their march at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Jesse Castaneda, a Santa Clara County clerk, said Friday's strike is just a start.

"It's kind of awakening a sleeping giant," said Castaneda, 38, who took a vacation day to join the march.

"They talk about illegal immigration, and they want to get rid of all the illegal immigrants. ... What would happen at a state level if that were to happen?" said Castaneda, who is Mexican-American. "They'll realize that we are needed here."

San Francisco Unified School District spokesman Roqua Montez said the district has not noticed an unusually high number of students, teachers or administrators who are absent.

"Clearly this is an important issue and while we understand that there are people who want to boycott and walk out, I think we also need to understand the importance of instructional time and being in school," Montez said.

Not all Hispanic groups supported the boycott.

The Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Greater Los Angeles urged Hispanics to drive with their headlights on Friday to show their support for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who repealed the driver's license bill.

....."It's kind of awakening a sleeping giant," said Castaneda, 38, who took a vacation day to join the march.

"They talk about illegal immigration, and they want to get rid of all the illegal immigrants. ... What would happen at a state level if that were to happen?" said Castaneda, who is Mexican-American. "They'll realize that we are needed here." .....

Normally, I'd say I was grappling, but I was taking down and mounting people, and JFS has kindly informed us that takedowns and being mounted are neither grappling nor anti grappling, so I'm not sure what the **** I was doing. Maybe schroedinger's sparring, where it's neither grappling nor anti-grappling until somoene observes it and collapses the waveform, and then I RNC a cat to death.----fatherdog

US immigration policy is screwed up but I really think that the groppenfurher was right on this one. It would have really loused up identification in California even more.

Personly I think the us should recognize reality and have an almost automatic long term greencard/immigration program for mexicans who come here as part of a to-be-created legal work program, and say work 20 years and keep out of trouble and learn english.

The problem is that these applicants for driver's licences would have used their liciences to springboard to other types of paperwork that would have camoflauged their illegal status. Typically people would use a mexican ID card to get their CA drivers licience and hell even I, mr Anglo could probably get one of those cards with $200 and a contact under any name I desired. It would have been an invitation to create false identities. Hopefully America will sooner or later try to figure out its immigration policy.